NASA this week shared the most detailed image ever taken of Mars. The image is not as spectacular as the composites sent by the James Webb Space Telescope, but it is surprising for the size and sharpness with which the red planet’s surface was observed.
The 2.5 billion pixel panorama captured by the Perseverance rover in the Jezero delta exceeds all images taken from the Martian surface.
Jezero Crater. The left skylight is the rover. (via NASA / manual).
In addition to the image, NASA has released a video tour, in which a member of the Perseverance science operations team offers spectacular views of the rover’s rugged terrain of rocks, mountains, cliffs and tracks.
Although the images resemble a desert, the numerous fine sedimentary rocks photographed on the surface are excellent places to look for signs of ancient life, NASA scientists noted.
Image of Mars shared by Perseverance. (Photo: NASA)
The monstrous dimension of the film
The new panorama returned by the rover has an extraordinary size: 2.5 billion pixels. The size of the image dwarfs the previous record-breaking image, a 1.8 billion-pixel panorama of the Gale crater taken by Curiosity in 2020.
According to the industrious researchers, the new panorama is comprised of 1,118 unique images taken in June by the vehicle’s Mastcam-Z, the vehicle’s head-mounted camera system.
What does the panorama of Mars look like?
Persistence images show an ancient river delta in the Jazero Crater, part of Mars, where scientists believe a river emptied into a lake billions of years ago, depositing fan-shaped rock and sediment.
Scientists and experts say deltas are the best places on Mars to find possible signs of ancient microbial life.
A video shared by NASA goes into detail with an image sent by the Perseverance rover:
(Video: YouTube / NASA)
The importance of a new image
The sedimentary rocks seen in Panorama are of great interest to researchers. In addition to photographing the site, NASA confirmed that it has collected samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. This will allow for in-depth laboratory studies in the search for signs of ancient life.
Diligence is the goal of the job
One of the main objectives of the Perseverance mission to Mars is astrophysics, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover’s mission is to characterize the planet’s past geography and climate and pave the way for human exploration of the planet.
The first mission is to collect and store stones from Mars. (Photo: NASA / JPL-CALTECH)
The following NASA missions:
In collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), NASA plans to send a spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for further study.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s new focus on space exploration, which includes the Artemis missions to the Moon, in preparation for a human visit to the Red Planet.
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